I’ll soon continue telling the tale of selling my first house. It was heated, as is this house, with forced hot water from an oil burning furnace.
The first home heating oil delivery we ever had, right after moving into our first house, during a cold February, was contaminated with bilge water. The truck had barely pulled away when the furnace stopped working. I had to fight with the numbskulls at this outfit to convince them it was their problem, get the tank pumped out, and the furnace working again.
After what they put us through, and considering I was a first-time customer, you’d think they’d refill the tank for free with good oil as a goodwill gesture. But no, they charged me full price for the delivery. I paid the bill, then fired them and went with another oil company.
But that screw-up, many years ago (I was 32), was nothing compared to this disaster. I doubt they’ll ever be able to get the smell of kerosene out of that house.
I knew what the punch line was going to be — they had converted to gas, but left the fill pipe. I’m not saying the driver isn’t at fault, but that is why you don’t leave a fill pipe on your house! We converted to gas about 28 years ago and had the fill pipe removed. It’s tragic, *and* it could have been avoided. I would guess the tank removal was not done by a legitimate outfit, but that’s just a guess.